Oenopia conglobata

Oenopia conglobata (Linnaeus)

(Figs 145, 146)

Coccinella conglobata Linnaeus, 1758: 366 (Type locality: Europe?).

Synharmonia conglobata: Mader 1931: 200.

Harmonia conglobata: Dauguet 1949: 34.

Oenopia conglobata: Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1982: 416; Poorani 2002a: 336; Poorani 2002b: 105.

Diagnosis. Length: 3.50–5.40 mm; width: 2.80–4.60 mm. Form (Fig. 145a, b) oval, moderately convex. Head pale creamy yellow with a transverse black marking in basal half. Pronotum creamy yellow with seven black spots, sometimes variously fused or reduced. Ground colour of elytra pinkish or pale yellow, with eight irregular spots; elytral spots variable, fused or reduced or completely absent. Male genitalia (Fig. 145d–f) and spermatheca (Fig. 145c) as illustrated.

Immature stages. Life stages (Fig. 146) as illustrated.

Distribution. India (Assam, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir); Pakistan; Afghanisthan; Palaearctic; North Africa; Introduced into North America.

Prey/associated habitat. Aphalaridae: Euphyllura straminea Loginova. Aphidoidea: Adelges sp., Aphis pomi De Geer, Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann), Hyadaphis tataricae (Aizenberg), Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy), Macrosiphum rosae (Linnaeus), Aphis (Toxoptera) aurantii Boyer de Fonscolombe; Chrysomelidae: Galerucella lineola (Fabricius), Altica sp. Collected on apple, walnut, pear, Euonymus sp., almond, Brassica spp., etc. Numerous hosts recorded from other parts of the world. Associated with tree-dwelling aphids (above 2 m) (Iperti, 1999). Associated with powdery mildew infesting mulberry (Khan & Nighat 1991).

Seasonal occurrence. Collected during February and June–July (northwestern region). In Kashmir, adults were observed to emerge in April and started overwintering in October (Maqbool et al. 2020). Active during April– October in Pakistan (Hayat et al. 2017).

Natural enemy. Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank) (Maqbool et al. 2018).

Note. It is commonly collected in the colder parts of northwestern Indian states like Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Poorani (2002b) briefly described and illustrated the genitalia.